fruit trees/ bushes

[hippy chick]

This year I would like to plant some manner of fruit bush in my garden. My garden is a highly disorganised area with a greenhouse (currently storing the bikes) and two dogs!! Anyway, I have no idea which fruit to grow, and wondered if anyone could make any suggestions. I'm thinking probably not blackberries since there is a large park near us where I managed to forage for pounds and pounds of brambles last year, they are close to blackberries, so why grow them in the garden and take up valuable space (did I mention it's a smallish garden). Has anyone has a fruit bush which has been particularly easy to look after, hardy and produces a good crop? Can you let me know... I desperately want to try something!

[MuddyWitch]

HC, you don't say how big your dogs are, but you might want to consider growing a gooseberry as a standard rather than a bush. (A standard has all its lower brances removed so it grow on a single stem , like a tree, but only reaches about 1 to 1.5M high). This may be especially true if your dogs "spinkle" everthing like mine! Go for a thornless variety if you can as it makes harvesting the berries SO much less painfull.

The other advantage of standards is that, once established, other crops can be fitted quite closely under it, doggies permitting!

MW